More and more people are finally taking notice of online learning’s many benefits, with some finally accepting that many students perform better in this learning environment. However, there’s no denying how hard the shift to online learning is for some students and teachers.
This is an excellent opportunity for virtual teaching assistants to showcase how much their profession can contribute to this new way of learning in university and college courses.
But what exactly is a virtual teaching assistant’s role in online learning? This article discusses some of the essential roles virtual teaching assistants play in the online learning environment.
Dealing with Online Course Documents
Online documentations have become a crucial part of online teaching. Whether that’s reports, assessments, records, and learning materials, all of these have moved into the digital space. Despite the shift to digital copies, these documents are still just as important as ever.
For virtual teaching assistants, one of their roles is to familiarize themselves with all the different types of digital files needed for their online learning course. These could be documents, spreadsheets, presentations, or PDF files.
Teaching assistants must know how online documentation works to help teachers troubleshoot issues, store documents to the Cloud, and do other tasks related to digital paperwork. They also maintain all compliance with federal and state laws regarding confidentiality and the security of protected information.
Fostering Student-to-Student Discussion & Interaction
One of the first possible casualties of online learning is student-to-student interaction. During an online course, most students are limited to interacting with the teacher only. Meanwhile, the teacher may be preoccupied with creating and delivering lessons.
Virtual teaching assistants are in the perfect position to lessen the teacher’s tasks and foster student discussion and interaction. Teaching assistants may help the teacher conduct student-to-student dialogue during the course.
Teaching assistants may help the teacher provide instructions for when, where, and how students can participate in virtual discussions.
It could be done by dedicating time from lesson delivery to activities like group discussions or turning a classroom session into an open forum. These activities may prove too much for teachers; teaching assistants can help in these activities.
Maintaining Clear Lines of Communication
Communication is an integral part of classroom education, even more so in the digital space. Students may have questions, clarifications, and feedback, but these can often be neglected due to a teacher’s hectic schedule.
Virtual teaching assistants can help maintain student-teacher communication by acting as the person in the middle. Teaching assistants can answer students’ questions, take note of feedback, report at-risk students or other issues for the teacher to address.
Teaching assistants can also monitor online class forums and message boards for any messages or posts. They can be the go-to person for students requiring clarification regarding projects and activities, which frees the teacher from extra tasks while providing students with someone they can reach out to.
Virtual teaching assistants are essential in modern education, especially since the world is quickly becoming digital. It’s more important than ever for teachers and educational institutions to invest in the many benefits teaching assistants can provide
